W6/NC-350 Loma Alta, 2020 January VHF Contest

It was the January VHF contest, and time for my annual trip up to Loma Alta. This year it was sunny, but very windy and cold. I went up from Big Rock again.

The Big Rock.

This year I had two new bands, 902 and 1296. I had bought transverters from SG Labs the previous fall, and it was time to take them out to see how they worked. At the summit I set up similar to last year, yagis on one pole, wire antennas on the other.

144, 222, 432 antennas.

Vertical EDZ for 2, inverted-V EDZ for 6.

I had a few minutes before the contest started, so made 2 dozen quick contacts on 20 using my Pacificon Special antenna. Propagation on 20 was good. Once 11am rolled around I stared doing VHF. I quickly got contacts in the four nearby grids, CM88, CM87, CM98, CM97, and a few farther away ones on 6 and 2 meters. Once things started to slow down, I got out the new transverters to give them a try. They worked wonderfully.

The microwave setup.

On 1296 I heard some people in the south bay, and quickly got some contacts. Then I realized that K6MYC was actually in the Sierra foothills north of Fresno, 280km away! This is only 10km less than my 2m distance record!

My longest 1296 contact, and favorite from the contest.

902 was less fruitful, only one contact on the band. I was amazed how much more noise there was pointing the antenna at cities. By this point I was getting fairly cold, and my mast had just blow over again. I decided to just pack up and head down. My score this year is quite a bit lower than in the past because of the shorter time, but with a bit more preparation I think I'll be able to do better in June and September.

The wire antennas.

I need to get my digital interface working so I can get on FT4 and FT8 next time. I also need to see if I can get a better system to hold the pole up in the wind. I think I might need a second guying ring higher up the pole. I'd also like a 146/223/446 vertical antenna for FM. It would be nice to be able to just leave my HT connected to an antenna the entire time. I also want a better solution for the microwave antennas than just holding them. Its hard doing everything with only one free hand.